More than 450 foreign components were found in Russian military equipment – RUSI
Experts from the British Royal Joint Institute for Defense Research (RUSI) believe that it is extremely difficult for Russia to produce military equipment without Western electronics.
This is stated in the report of the institute.
RUSI notes that Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine did not go according to plan. And the occupation of Ukrainian cities has turned into a grueling struggle that is quickly exhausting the Russian army.
The report describes the components and principles of operation of 27 of Russia’s most advanced military systems, including cruise missiles, communications systems and electronic warfare systems.
Based on a technical inspection of Russian military equipment captured or deployed in Ukraine, it is clear how the multibillion-dollar Russian military modernization program, designed to last for decades, depended on the widespread use of microelectronics produced in the USA, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France and Germany.
To obtain permission to use foreign components in military equipment, Russian companies must assure the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation that there is no domestic alternative in Russia.
RUSI found at least 450 different types of foreign-made components in these 27 systems.
Thus, no less than 80 different types of components of American manufacturers Analog Devices and Texas Instruments were found in Russian military equipment. This also indicates that the Russian Federation has been able to successfully circumvent sanctions in recent years.
Russia has lost a huge amount of military equipment in Ukraine and has severely depleted its arsenal of cruise and ballistic missiles. After the introduction of new sanctions and increased export controls, the Russian government should replace the components with domestic ones. But as a result, this approach turned out to be unsustainable.
Now Russia must either develop new and probably less powerful weapons or find loopholes to successfully circumvent sanctions.
RUSI experts established that the Russian 9M727 cruise missile has 31 components manufactured by American companies Texas Instruments Inc and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), as well as Cypress Semiconductor, which is now owned by Germany’s Infineon AG.
More than 30 parts from Intel and Xilinx (owned by AMD) were found in the Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.
RUSI
RUSI
Analog Devices assured that they stopped business in Russia and instructed to stop supplies. Intel announced that they do not allow the use of their products to violate human rights. AMD also assured that they strictly follow all export control measures.
It can be assumed that the Russian Federation purchased foreign components even before the start of a large-scale war, because some microchips can be used both in military equipment and in household appliances. However, countries should make sure for what purposes Russia was purchasing the components.
It is worth noting that after the full-scale invasion on February 24, the United States, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and a number of European countries imposed a ban on the sale of microchips to Russia.
Source: RUSI